In The Zone

The Network With The Ridiculous Notion Of Being A 24-hour All-sports Station Hits Its 20-year Anniversary.

September 06, 1999|By Ed Sherman, Tribune Sports Media Writer.

BRISTOL, Conn. — The main road through this town of 60,000 is hardly inspiring. The scenery is mostly modest wooden houses, with a takeout Chinese place here, a drugstore over there.

Even "the Plaza," as it is called, is fairly standard fare. Seven long buildings that aren't attention-grabbers except for what is in front of them.

Some people landscape their buildings with flowers. ESPN does it with satellite dishes.

They sprout out of the ground like wild mushrooms. There's a cluster on the front lawn, more out back in the parking lot and a couple springing off the roof. They look as if they are tracking alien activity, not the Oakland-Texas baseball game.

The 25 satellite dishes--some big enough on which to park an 18-wheeler--are the surest sign that you've arrived at the center of the sports universe. Ground Zero, if you will. Or more accurately, Ground Infinity, considering where ESPN has been and where it's presumably going.

"The joke is that it will be a nifty network when they finish building it," longtime anchor Bob Ley says. "That day is not in sight."

At 6 p.m. Tuesday, ESPN will air a three-hour retrospective to celebrate its 20th anniversary. ESPN's lifespan encompasses a landmark two decades that have changed the face of sports--

mostly for better but, yes, some for worse.

On Sept. 7, 1979, ESPN went on the air as a fledgling enterprise with the absurd notion of being an all-sports, all-the-time network. The Boston Globe wrote, "24 hours of sports programming seven days a week seems a bit heavy."

Little did anyone suspect that it wouldn't be enough.

ESPN now has four domestic networks to go along with its international units. The network has been an IV for sports junkies, feeding their addiction. In the process ESPN has transformed the culture. Certain sports, such as college basketball, have become huge, in no small part because of ESPN's 'round-the-clock exposure. ESPN's trademark "SportsCenter" turned the mundane delivery of scores and highlights into a stream of one-liners and catch-phrases that have become part of the lexicon and turned sports anchors into cult figures.

"We haven't created what sports is today," Ley says. "But we helped create the aura and sizzle around sports."

But at what price? ESPN hears charges that the glut of games devalues their importance. "SportsCenter" is routinely accused of glorifying slam dunks and showboating at the expense of sportsmanship and fundamental play.

ESPN takes it all in stride as it continues to build its empire. Restaurants. Radio stations. A magazine. The Internet.

The ESPN brand name is so woven into the American fabric that it's almost as identifiable as parent company Disney's other icon, Mickey Mouse. Like Mickey, ESPN delivers where it counts most--on the bottom line.

They don't show you where they print the money at ESPN, but the machinery is there. Revenue exceeds $1 billion, and ESPN is one of the most profitable networks on television.

"Our goal is to be relevant to sports fans whenever and wherever they want it," says Dick Glover, executive vice president for programming.

Twenty years ago the goal was mere survival.

"Anybody who told you in 1979 that ESPN would get this big either is disturbed or missed their calling picking stocks," says Ley, one of the network's pioneers.

The network, founded by Bill Rasmussen, initially went into only 1.2 million homes; ESPN now reaches 76 million. Early programming consisted almost entirely of obscure sports, some of them laughably obscure. ESPN lifer Chris Berman recalls doing play-by-play of a darts tournament. Sixteen years later Berman was on the call when Cal Ripken Jr. broke Lou Gehrig's record for consecutive games played. That's progress.

Still, darts filled a void. Fans hungered for sports, which had been pretty much limited to what the three networks chose to show on weekends.

ESPN stepped in with a full menu that hardly was meat and potatoes.

"They made alternative sports more exciting, such as Australian rules football and the X-Games," says Art Taylor of the Boston-based Center for the Study of Sport in Society. "They gave us choices."

Two choices put ESPN on the map. In 1980 the network aired complete coverage of the NCAA basketball tournament, an unprecedented undertaking. A month later it went live with the NFL draft.

"Those events forced people to learn who we were," Ley says.

Once fans got to ESPN, they didn't leave. At the core of ESPN's success is a passion for sports. On a walk around the offices, the energy and commitment is evident from the never-ending buzz of activity. Staffers talk of a pride that doesn't exist in most places.

"It's such a great atmosphere," anchor Linda Cohn says. "People ask, `Are you having a good time?' I say, `Yeah, it's like a college campus.' "

Berman, who was 24 when he joined ESPN, is now one of the most recognized figures in broadcasting.